AUTHORS

Patrick Ibarra, a former city manager, owns and operates a Glendale, Ariz.-based organizational-improvement and efficiency consulting practice, the Mejorando Group. ("Mejorando" is Spanish for "getting better all the time.")

Ibarra also is an author, speaker, blogger and educator. He holds master's degrees in public administration and organizational development, and is a faculty associate member at Arizona State University, where he teaches a graduate course on organizational change.

It's not easy to determine what constitutes quality public-sector performance. Finding the answers to some crucial questions is the most important step toward a disciplined approach to high-performance government.